Untitled NGE fic
by Sunlit Wings
Summary: A plot summary of an SxA fic. You gotta read the AN inside prior to reading, or it won't make any sense.
1. Plot Summary

A/N: Yes. I know. This is strange. It's only the plot summary. But the thing is, it's been sitting there in my com for months now, and I still don't have any time to write the actual story. So, if you're a talented NGE fanfiction writer and you've got absolutely nothing to do, go ahead and write my fic for me. I don't really care if you take the exact storyline because this is just an idea I had for a fic since I haven't read any fics written like this. I'd be really happy to see someone try their hand at an NGE fic like this. Just make sure that if you DO feel like writing this fic, tell me first, and give a little credit to me (I mean, it took a while to place the story pieces together, you know).

My email (Lina): 

IMPORTANT: The next two chapters are the first two chapters of this story that I wrote during the summer. If you choose to write this fic, you can either continue my version or just take ideas.

Disclaimer: None of the original NGE characters belong to the lunatic author (or her Beta-reading sidekick). They obviously belong to GAINAX, who deserve to own them, too.

Untitled NGE Fanfiction

Plot Summary

By LINA of Sunlit Wings

Asuka Sohryu Langley is the daughter of a wealthy man in Germany. She has many friends, but only two best friends – Hikari, a girl who helps operate the orphanage, and a peasant boy named Hatori. In reality, he is Shinji Ikari, the son of the commander of a top-secret organization, Nerv. Shinji doesn't know what his father is like, only the fact that Gendo is the commander, and that he has to keep his Eva-piloting duties a secret. Asuka pilots an Eva as well, but they never see each other, nor go on the same missions together. Asuka only knows Shinji as a cold, cruel boy like his father.

But Asuka, like Shinji, gave her secret friend the wrong name. Shinji knows Asuka to be a peasant girl named Nakuru. Ever since they were young, Asuka would borrow a sooty, labour-worn dress from one of her closest maids, and sneak out to visit him. In the same fashion, Shinji dresses in rags and sneaks out once in a while to meet her.

Unfortunately, Shinji is one day forced to leave, because his guardian has a new command from his father: Shinji is to court a rich girl, named Asuka Langley, the daughter of a rich man. Shinji sneaks off at once to inform the girl he knows as Nakuru, but before he can tell her the name of the girl he is to court with, he is discovered by his guardian, and whisked away.

As for Asuka, her 18th birthday nears, and her father urges her to meet suitors and find a man that she likes, but Asuka refuses to submit to this idea. She rejects more and more suitors, but they keep coming, drawn to her by her beauty, wealth, and the offers her father advertises publicly. Finally, she makes a deal with her father: a week before her birthday, there will be a ball for all suitors from every place in the world. Asuka can do whatever she likes to drive them away, but at midnight, she must choose a husband from the remaining suitors. If she succeeds in driving every single man away, her father will buy her a nice beach bungalow far from Germany, where she can spend the rest of her life doing whatever she wishes. When, at last, it is the night of the ball, Asuka, along with the help of a select few of her servants, is able to drive away every single suitor. However, her father has hidden away a single boy in a secret room that he alone knows exists. By the time the clock strikes midnight, Asuka is exhausted, and is sure that there is not a single suitor left in her father's great mansion. Her father then reveals the hidden boy. The boy is Shinji.

For Asuka's father had made a deal with Shinji's father: In exchange for Asuka's hand in marriage, her father would be able to access the secrets of Nerv, and serve as an advisor to the commander and sub-commander. Asuka's father agreed to this, because he wanted to know more about what Asuka was doing on those mysterious trips to the Nerv base. So he had hid Shinji in a secret room. This, he explains to Asuka when she complains about his actions.

Asuka and Shinji spend a week together, and during that week, suspicions arise. Neither of them knows that they are actually Nakuru and Hatori. For, in their secret meetings, they are both covered in soot and grime, therefore cannot recognize each other when well dressed and clean.

Finally, it is Asuka's birthday. Shinji remembers a deal that he had made with Nakuru to meet her on this day – back then, he had not known that it was Asuka's birthday. It is difficult for him, but he manages to escape the heavy security in Asuka's home, and waits for Nakuru in their secret meeting place. However, Asuka, being accompanied by her father, are waiting for Shinji to join them for Asuka's birthday feast, so Asuka is unable to leave and sneak off to Hatori. She is impatient, and cannot wait for 'that bastard' Shinji to arrive, so she angrily breaks into his room to find that no one is there.

Meanwhile, Shinji is suspecting that something is wrong when his friend Nakuru had still not yet arrived. He calls frantically for her, but is discovered not by Nakuru, but by his two friends, Touji and Kensuke. They tell him that 'that bitch' Asuka is waiting for him to return so that they can have a birthday feast together. Shinji sadly returns to Asuka's mansion and retreats to his room to change. Asuka has long left his room, but in her anger, a charm tied to her wrist became undone, and landed on the floor. Shinji notices it, and recognizes it at once to be Nakuru's bracelet. He had given it to her when they were young, on one of their secret outings. Shinji becomes puzzled, but resignedly concludes that Nakuru must have sneaked into his carriage to put it in his luggage or something.

A few days later, Shinji and Asuka are told that their wedding will take place in three days' time. They are both separately worried, for they hate each other. Asuka is anxious to see Hatori, now fully convinced that he is the only one she loves, and Shinji is worrying about why Nakuru wasn't there to meet him a few days earlier, regretting that he had not told her that he loved her when he had the chance.

Just before the wedding starts, Asuka strips off her wedding gown and puts on her peasant outfit, determined to run away. Shinji catches a glimpse of her, and turns away, knowing that his father would not let him refuse Asuka Langley as a wife. Too afraid to go against his intimidating father, he decided not to speak to Nakuru, in case it brought back bad memories and made him do something stupid that he might regret. Asuka doesn't get far when she hears explosive booms and crashes behind her. The church is being bombed.

Everyone inside panics, but Shinji gets into his Eva, which, fortunately, was nearby for demonstrational and political purposes. He drives the offenders away, and rescues everyone inside the Church. Asuka watches from far away. This isn't the first time she watched Shinji fight. A long time ago, she had watched videos of his first times inside the Eva. But Asuka watches with raging fury, not with awe, because Shinji's combat skills were the cause of her fixed marriage. Angry and upset, Asuka runs to her secret meeting place, hoping that Hatori would be there, but of course, he isn't.

Asuka waits there, for three months, and for three months, her father was worried. Many search parties were sent out, but Asuka was too good for them, and they did not find her. Shinji was supposed to just wait until his runaway bride was discovered, and he had little to do for the duration of the time, but he refrained from venturing to the secret meeting place, afraid to see Nakuru after knowing that she had been at his supposed wedding. Meanwhile, Asuka's father spent loads of money trying to find his daughter. Finally, one day, the people who had invaded Shinji's and Asuka's wedding identified themselves. They were loan sharks, and they were there to collect a so-called debt that Asuka's father supposedly owed them. Unfortunately, because of some kind of forgery, the government found nothing wrong with this, and Asuka's father was forced to hand the money over. Because of the loan sharks and the monstrous amount of money he had spent on his daughter, Asuka's father lost his job, and could only lie in wait for Asuka's return. Only then would he get his promised job at Nerv.

Shinji was now torn in his newfound sympathy for Asuka's father, and his promise to Nakuru that they would grow up together. He found little ideas for how he could possibly convince his father to allow Nakuru in their home after he got married to Asuka, and yet, he wanted Asuka's father to be happy. Indeed, Shinji found Asuka's father to be such a kind man, much unlike Gendo Ikari, and if Shinji married Asuka, then he would become his father as well. Shinji shared this dilemma with Touji and Kensuke, who also knew Nakuru, and they said that Shinji should follow his heart and live with Nakuru. They had never really fancied Nakuru, but they both felt that she was much better than the red demon Asuka. Shinji considered this, and finally decided to run away. Not long after he left, Kensuke sent him news that Touji had been injured in another attack on Asuka's mansion that had been launched by the loan sharks. It turned out that they had come for more, and weren't satisfied with the money. They wanted Asuka as well.

But the truth was, no one knew where Asuka was. No one except for Hikari Horaki, one of Asuka's friends who served in the orphanage near Asuka's and Shinji's secret meeting place. She knew Asuka's secret, and when she saw Shinji, she recognized him at once as Hatori, and prepared some food for him. After Shinji told her his story about being engaged to Asuka, Hikari was about to explain who Nakuru really was, when the loan sharks came in, looking for Shinji and Asuka. They had Kensuke with them, and apparently, he was the one who leaked the information to them after they threatened to finish Touji off. Immediately, Kensuke realized that Nakuru was actually Asuka, and Asuka was really Nakuru, whichever way it went. But before he could share his thoughts, his captor let go of him and left, chasing after Shinji, who had fled. Kensuke stayed with Hikari, and they both confirmed each other's thoughts.

Meanwhile, Asuka was taking a walk in the woods – having stayed waiting for Hatori to come for three months, doing nothing but eating and drinking and sitting in a cramped spot that was their meeting place made her see fresh air and good space with new eyes. She spotted an abandoned cottage somewhere deep inside the woods. The cottage looked like it had been built just recently – there was even a horse tied to the stable at the back. Even the windows and roof looked as if they had just been installed. Asuka, after considering the fact that the owner must still be alive and would be returning soon, decided against staying. She ventured further into the woods, but soon, it started to rain, washing the soot and filth from Asuka's hair. Drenched and soaked to the skin, Asuka had no choice but to change into her more luxurious dress that she had flung into her bundle. She untied her hair, letting it fall onto her shoulders the way it did when she was at home, and ran back to the cottage that she had seen.

Shinji was lucky; he had managed to escape the loan sharks, and now that it started to rain, he decided to return the Asuka's mansion. But when he arrived, there were only remains of what used to be a beautiful home. Shinji searched and searched, but could not find Asuka's father, nor anyone else that had once lived in the mansion. He could only find a few of his clothes, unharmed. Since the rain ruined his peasant outfit, he changed into the clothes that he found. Then, finding no other option, he decided to retreat to his cottage that he had built in the woods only a few weeks ago, to avoid waiting for and thinking about Asuka.

On the way, he found Touji, his leg broken, and a few ribs fractured. Touji tells him that the loan sharks have taken Asuka's father, Hikari, Kensuke, and other people who lived in Asuka's mansion or were her friends, hostage. Miserable, Shinji takes Touji to his cottage in the woods to plan what to do next.

Asuka hears someone coming, and hides. When Shinji enters his cottage, she gasps and tries to run away, but when Shinji comes after her on his horse and gets knocked off by a branch, she sees her bracelet on his wrist. Furious, she helps him up and demands where he got the bracelet. Before he could explain, there is a cry coming from the cottage. They both return to find the place looking disastrous. Touji is gone; only a ransom note is left, demanding that Asuka come to rescue her father, at the right time and place. Shinji and Asuka decide to rest for the night, and do something about it the next day – but they find that the cottage only has one bed. Asuka demands that she have the bed, and Shinji tries vainly to tell her that it should be okay for them to sleep together since they were supposed to be married by now anyway. Asuka gives her usual retort (hentai!), and Shinji ends up sleeping in the stable. The next day, Shinji wakes early in the morning to bath in the lake near his cottage. Asuka takes this time to look through his stuff, and finds that he has taken her bracelet with him. She wonders about why he has it, and concludes that she must have dropped it in his room on her birthday, and that he was keeping it for hentai purposes. When Shinji returns with only a towel wrapped around his waist, Asuka realizes how much he resembles Hatori. This thought is shaken away when she remembers that it's impossible – Shinji is stinking rich like her while Hatori is a peasant with only rags to wear. However, she contemplates the fact that she, herself, had given Hatori the wrong name, and told him that she was an orphan. Asuka doesn't have enough time to decide what to do about this, because Shinji starts a conversation about how they are going to rescue her father. Asuka retorts that she could do it herself when Shinji said that Asuka ought to stay, because a rescue led by her would be what the loan sharks were expecting. In the end, Shinji takes off in his Eva, leaving Asuka sulking, and her mystery unsolved.

Shinji frees Hikari and Kensuke, who tell him that a girl already trapped by the loan sharks, is being raped in another room. Shinji tells them to run, and finds the girl in time to stop her violator. However, he finds that the man is none other than his father, Gendo Ikari. Shocked and angry, Shinji is captured by him, and Gendo explains that Shinji's engagement to Asuka was a diversion to get him off his back, so he could use Rei, who was the other girl he was about to rape. Disgusted and furious, Shinji rescues Rei, and they immediately realize that they are both Eva pilots. Gendo sends his men to trap Shinji's Eva, so Rei invites him to ride in her Eva instead. They escape, but barely.

Meanwhile, Asuka is waiting in Shinji's cottage, wondering what could be happening. She was still furious that she couldn't do anything about her father's capture, so in her rage, she rode Shinji's horse to Nerv's HQ. She finds that everyone is trying to locate Shinji and Gendo, but no one is successful. It seems that wherever they are, is highly protected by technology more high-tech than the Magi itself.

Shinji and Rei stay at a hotel in a nearby village, and Shinji explains his situation to Rei. Rei seems eager to help, but in her mind, she is truly in love with Shinji and doesn't him to meet Asuka again. She doesn't know what to do when she finds some of Gendo's men looking for Shinji. Knowing that Gendo would let her have Shinji, she called for the guards to capture him. Gendo is happy to let Rei have Shinji, as long as he gets to do what he wants with him first. Shinji is locked in dungeons where Rei can't find him, and behind Rei's back, Gendo makes Shinji endure immense pain and torture. As each whip touches his bloody back, Shinji thinks longingly of Nakuru and her sweet smile.

At Nerv, Asuka is not permitted to simply ride her Eva to the rescue. Asuka insists that she knows the exact location of the place where her father is being held captive, but Misato Katsuragi, the temporary commander, says what Shinji had told Asuka about the loan sharks expecting that kind of a rescue.

Shinji is whipped and verbally harassed everyday by Gendo and his men. One day, two weeks since Shinji's capture, Gendo mentions how Asuka, Shinji's wife-to-be, was taking a bit long to rescue her love. Shinji thinks wryly about how Asuka was probably enjoying his absence, but then realizes how closely Asuka resembled Nakuru. He wondered, could Nakuru possibly have a twin? Or maybe they were sisters, but her father could only afford to raise one of them? Nakuru had never told the whole story about how she had been abandoned, so Shinji felt excited. But then Gendo switched to another topic, about how careless and stupid Shinji was, so Shinji slumped and thought that maybe he was just hallucinating. He hadn't seen Nakuru for a long time anyway.

Hikari and Kensuke have successfully escaped, though it was thanks to Shinji's own capture that the guards didn't notice them. The first thing Hikari decides to do is to find Asuka and tell her about Shinji being the same person they knew as Hatori. But Kensuke and her are unable to find Asuka anywhere, and finally decide to go to Nerv, which they knew Asuka had to be. But the guards don't let them in – thinking that they could be spies, or even Angels. Asuka is too busy sneaking off to her Eva to see the commotion on the surveillance screens. Happy that everyone else was occupied by whatever it was at the front gate, she got into her Eva and heads toward the place that had been written on the ransom note.

Rei finds Shinji in his room one day, gently stroking a bracelet. Rei asks about it, and Shinji tells her about his love for Nakuru. Rei is immediately angered, and that night, she takes the bracelet and throws it into the lake.

Gendo's guards track down Asuka before she could enter the portal that was the entrance to Gendo's hideout, but she quickly ejects from the plug, and runs off to Shinji's cottage. To get rid of all the stress of not being able to find her father, she takes a dip in the lake to find Hatori's bracelet floating downstream. Asuka quickly retrieves it, and puts it on her wrist, remembering about Hatori. She now wondered where he could possibly be, if he wasn't at the secret meeting place. She knew he had left to court a girl. Suddenly, she had a thought. Hatori seemed as if his courting with a girl was important and strict, but he was a peasant. Weren't peasants allowed to choose whom they wanted to marry? And when did peasants use the word court? It seemed to Asuka that Hatori might not be who he seemed to be at all. There was every chance that Hatori might even be – Asuka scowled – Shinji! Asuka decides that it's all too complicated, and that she was probably missing Hatori too much. She decides to get to the bottom of the mystery the next day. Asuka is unable to have a good night's sleep, though. Something is making loud, thudding noises outside the cottage.

For Shinji's Eva had escaped that day – and Gendo had been furious. He put most of the blame on his men, but Shinji felt his anger as well. His daily whipping was increased, and Shinji got no lunch or dinner. Rei tried to make Shinji comfortable and pampered him in her room that night, but he insisted that he stay in his own room. Rei pondered about how he could possibly still not be in love with her, and wondered where his Eva could have gone to.

The answer was right at Asuka's door. Somehow, the Eva knew that Shinji would want Asuka to come and rescue him, even though he knew her as Nakuru. Asuka, wanting to be ready to escape, dressed up in her peasant outfit, and got inside the Entry plug.

In the middle of the night, Shinji awoke to Gendo's frantic commands. He sees Rei trying to get him to go back to sleep, but he hears the voice of his own Eva. Wanting to avoid thinking about why Rei was next to him naked, he ran outside in only a thin, white pair of pants, which got dirty and filthy as soon as he stepped into the garden, where Unit 01 was causing havoc. Inside, Asuka saw him and recognized him as Hatori. She lifted him and exited out the portal, driven away by Rei's Eva.

Asuka got out of the Entry Plug, and ran down to meet Hatori. He smiled and they embraced, both happy to see each other. But deep inside, there were still many questions to be answered, and Shinji didn't want to be the first one to ask them, nor did he want to answer anything. He just held Nakuru close, and wondered who was inside his Eva, for he had not seen Asuka come out of it. He saw Nakuru's bracelet on her, and wondered how she had gotten it back. He didn't ask about it though. They stayed in a nearby village, where a kind old lady gave them food and space to rest. This time, with only one bed, Nakuru agreed to sleep with Hatori.

Meanwhile, Gendo was not happy. He ordered for Asuka's father to be tortured the way Shinji had. Though the whip stung him horribly, Asuka's father couldn't help but smile at Shinji's escape. He somehow had the feeling that Asuka had been the one to save him.

Gendo wasn't the only one there that was angered at Shinji's escape. Rei is devastated that Shinji had left her. Hadn't she been the one who had healed his wounds and scars so intimately and lovingly? She was determined to find that Nakuru girl and teach her a lesson.

Asuka and Shinji decide to head back to the orphanage, since Shinji thinks that it's best for Nakuru to go home. Secretly, he wants to run off and marry her as a peasant, but he can't leave the fact that Asuka's father is still captured by his father. Shinji angrily thinks also about his own father, and decides that he couldn't leave a man like Gendo unpunished. Shinji also considers that Asuka is probably still waiting for news of his attempt to rescue her father. So after admitting his love for Nakuru, and promising to see her again, Shinji runs off to the woods.

Asuka, as Nakuru, watches Hatori as he leaves, suddenly wondering about the girl that Hatori had said he was courting. Where was she? And Asuka, in her relief, had forgotten to ask about his being where her father was captured. Sorely confused, Asuka asks Hikari for a change of clothes, but the only ones Hikari has left are the ceremonial robes that Asuka had lovingly given to her on her birthday. Hikari willingly offers the robes to Asuka, who, though she dislikes the way they aren't comfortable and easily manoeuvrable like the peasant clothes, reluctantly dons them. Resentfully, Asuka returns to Shinji's cottage.

Asuka arrives to find Shinji in a half-panic. He explains that he was looking for her. Asuka then yells about going to Nerv after Shinji had been missing for such a long time, and that she had gone to rescue her father herself in Unit 02. They both don't say anything about their secret friend, though, thinking that the other probably wouldn't have anything nice to say about having a peasant friend. Shinji is about to say that he now realized that it had been her inside the Eva, but then, someone knocks at the door of the cottage. Shinji recognizes the person immediately. The girl is Rei.

Asuka is curious to why Rei, the pilot of Unit 00, had followed them to Shinji's cottage. Rei hid the fact that she herself had sent guards looking for Shinji, and that at the very moment, Gendo's men were surrounding the cottage. Secretly, she loathed the way Asuka kept insulting and calling Shinji names. She especially hated the way Shinji just let her go on, and still treated her kindly. Suddenly, a thought came to her; Shinji had once told her that he especially loved Nakuru's deep sea-blue eyes and her flaming red hair. Rei compared this to Asuka, and couldn't resist the thought that Asuka might be Nakuru. This only gave Rei more reason to hate Asuka. In the end, Rei resolved to kill Asuka that night.

As there were no beds for both Rei and Shinji, Shinji offered the stable to Rei, and slept on the veranda that night. When all was quiet, Rei snuck up, and revealed a silver blade tucked in her sleeve. She crept inside, but before she set foot into the cottage, Shinji awoke to find himself surrounded by Gendo's men. They had chosen to attack at the same time Rei had. Before Rei could do anything, Shinji let out a warning shout to Rei and Asuka, and Asuka woke inside. She jumped out the window, landed on Shinji's horse, and rode off into the woods, calling over her shoulder that she would send reinforcements.

Gendo, though angry that his grand prize Asuka had gotten away, happily brought Shinji back into the same dungeon that Shinji had stayed for a month last time he had been captured. This time, Gendo made sure that Shinji would stay for much, much longer.

Asuka arrives at Nerv, and tells all about the portal, Rei's arrival, and Shinji's capture. Misato immediately thinks that Rei might be part of the problem, though she misundersood why Rei would do such a thing so willingly. She absentmindedly voices the thought that Rei was never programmed for this, and Asuka, confused, hears this comment.

Meanwhile, Hikari and Kensuke plan a rescue mission of their own. They are determined to rescue Shinji and Touji, and break it to Shinji that Nakuru is actually Asuka. Then they realize that it would be much easier to break it to Asuka first, and let her do the rescuing. They go to Nerv at once. This time, Nerv lets them in, and they speak to Asuka. Asuka doesn't believe them, convinced that this is only an attempt to get her to rescue Shinji. Hikari asks if Asuka was planning to rescue him anyway. They talk girl to girl in a secret room, and Asuka admits that she might be falling for Shinji, and that she's scared that this might pull her and Hatori farther apart. Hikari is exasperated, and tries to tell Asuka that Shinji is Hatori again, but then Misato tells them that they have an emergency: Gendo is threatening to kill Asuka's father.

The threat is put on the TV satellites, so Misato rewinds it for Asuka to see. She wonders why Gendo isn't threatening to kill Shinji, but that question is answered when, farther along the tape, Rei shows up, caressing an unconscious Shinji's face. Gendo's voice explains that Rei will have Shinji if Asuka doesn't come to claim him. Hikari moans that it's a terrible thing, and that Asuka must go and rescue them both, but Asuka solidly refuses to care about Shinji's supposed fate. Inside, though, Asuka's heart makes a funny jump of anger when Rei places a long, hard kiss on Shinji's lips, and then smiles wickedly at the TV recorder. Asuka denies her feelings, thinking that she is betraying her true love Hatori. She looks longingly at her bracelet, and wishes that all of this had never started...

Shinji awakes to find himself in Rei's room. Realizing now that Rei would do anything to be with him, he explains to her that true love means wanting your love to be happy, not to force them to always be with you against their own will. He tells her that she is a very kind girl inside, and that maybe someday, she will meet her true love. Shinji thoughtfully adds that he is not in love with Asuka, rather, he is in love with the peasant Nakuru, and that he'll wait for the day when he can be with her. Rei is sad, but is touched by Shinji's words. She immediately goes to Gendo, and asks if he can help her find a peasant girl named Nakuru, who has blue eyes and red hair. Furious, Gendo explodes that the only girl in Germany with that description was Asuka Sohryu Langley. He angrily demands if Rei was teasing him, but Rei insists that there has to be another girl. Gendo finally submits, and gets one of his men to hack into the Magi system, which has all the data on all the peasants that were ever born or live in Germany. He only finds two girls; one who has been living on the farthest place in Germany from them, and is too old to be the girl, and the other is brown-eyed, golden-haired, and a bit too young. Sad that she is unable to find Shinji's love, she returns to her room, but doesn't tell Shinji the news. She is too shocked to find that there is not a single girl registered named Nakuru. Did that mean that Nakuru was an outcast? Or maybe she was murdered, and all her files were erased...Rei decided not to cause any more worry in Shinji's life. Rei offered to help him escape, as long as he took her with him. He agreed.

Asuka finally decides that she had never felt anything for the stupid Shinji, and returns to her home village, gathering friends to rebuild her mansion. Then, one night, Asuka thinks about Hatori, and how she hadn't seen him for such a long time. She starts to realize that maybe Hatori wouldn't care that much about her being with someone else once he found out who Nakuru really was. Determined to tell him, she runs out in her nightclothes to the orphanage, hoping that Hatori is there. It is, after all, supposed to be Hatori's birthday that day. But before she gets there, Unit-01 suddenly stops her. Asuka is flooded with happiness, thinking that Shinji had escaped. But it turns out that no one is inside the Entry Plug.

Because, in Rei and Shinji's attempt to escape, they found out that Gendo had been updating Unit-01 into a super model, one that Shinji couldn't control. But in the middle of the mess, Yui's spirit awoke, and ran off to find Asuka. Somehow, in Gendo's miscalculations, Yui's spirit now had more power over the Eva. Since Yui had sensing her son's feelings all this time, she knew she had to get Asuka.

Asuka stands outside the Entry Plug, about to go in. Yui tells her to rescue Shinji. Asuka goes without hesitating.

Gendo, in his rage, can't find Rei and Shinji after the Unit crashed it's way through the walls of the void that his hideout is built inside. It had created another porthole, one that led directly to Asuka's mansion that was being rebuilt. Rei and Shinji hide, trying to plot a way to get to the portal, since they overhear where it is connected. But Gendo knows that they will try to use it, so it is heavily guarded under his orders. Rei and Shinji have no choice but to keep hiding.

Finally, one day, Shinji starts thinking that he is falling for Rei, now that she is no longer trying to seduce him. But he tries to shake this thought away, thinking that it would be evil to love three girls at once.

Finally, Asuka comes. She catches Shinji and Rei kissing, but it is one of those accident ones, where neither of them saw it coming. After rescuing them, Asuka starts thinking that she was wrong about loving Shinji, and that Hatori wouldn't do a thing like that to her. Rei and Shinji never clear it to Asuka, and Asuka gets detached from them, giving more space for Shinji to bond with Rei. Asuka starts thinking that she has no one anymore, not Shinji nor Hatori.

Shinji, Asuka, and Rei report for duty to rescue Asuka's father, but then, on the mission, Asuka's Eva is attacked by one of Gendo's creations, a deadly unmanned robot created from remains of the last Angel. Asuka ejects the Entry Plug before getting injured, and since her Plug suit is badly damaged, she quickly changes into her peasant outfit that she had brought in her Entry Plug in case Gendo captured her. Shinji destroys the robot, and Misato, already knowing about Shinji and Asuka's secret friendship (thanks to Hikari and Kensuke) calls Rei back, and tells Shinji to retrieve Asuka. Shinji, however, suddenly loses all connection to the base, and his Eva goes berserk.

Yui safely transports him and Asuka to a far deserted place. Shinji is the first to regain consciousness, so he gets out of the Eva, and hugs Asuka (in her peasant form) after seeing her. But holding her so close, Shinji easily catches the smell of LCL coming from her. Thinking that Nakuru and Asuka couldn't possibly be the same person, and that the smell was probably coming from himself, he takes a dip in the river nearby, and comes back, but Asuka still smells like LCL. Shinji finally realizes that Asuka was Nakuru all this time. Not wanting to let Asuka know that he was Hatori, he changed into his peasant outfit, and told his mother to leave and hide.

Asuka awakes to Hatori's warm embrace. It turns out that Shinji found a kind old man who spared them a bed in his home. They were out in the countryside, near the mountains. Asuka and Shinji help the man out in his farm, and stay for another night. While in bed, Asuka is thinking that Shinji fell asleep, so she pours out all her past thoughts about loving Shinji and then realizing that Shinji must have been in love in Rei, but not knowing where Hatori was, didn't know if there was anyone else out there who loved her. Shinji is awake all this time, and while listening to her, he is very sure that he is in love with Asuka, and had never enjoyed that kiss that he shared with Rei.

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WOW! It's not finished! Well...you COULD make that the ending...it is quite beautiful...sorta. K, before I scare anyone away, I just wanna say (you guessed it): REVIEW! Yea, yea, it's old, but we say it for a reason. If we suck, we wanna get betta, right? Anypoo...flames are always welcome! We've got our garden hoses ready!

..: Lina :..


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Yes, I will answer your inevitable doubts now: This fic is slightly screwed (or VERY screwed, depending on what the word 'screwed' means to you) concerning the setting and, sometimes, the characters. That's why it's only a fanfic, baka! If all the characters did what they're supposed to do, then this would be the actual anime/manga itself! But please, feel free to email me if there is something seriously wrong that you think you can help me with.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, or ideas. They don't belong to me. Me, these do not belong. Get it? No? Yes? Me crazy? Yes. But no, belong me these characters not.

Chapter 1

"_Again_?" A voice whined from the darkness of the dusty cellar.

"Yes, please," came the cheerful reply.

"Mistress Langley, you –"

The cheerful voice cleared her throat. "Oh, you must mean, Asuka."

Someone standing in the cellar rolled her eyes. "Asuka," she said in a sarcastic tone, "your father will be looking for you. Have you forgotten that in one week's time, it will be your 18th birthday?"

Asuka shot her servant, Shizuku, a mischievous look. "Exactly why I must go and see Hatori," she said firmly. She placed her hands on her hips, and looked down her nose at the tiny door in the wall that led to the cellar for effect.

Her servant sighed. "Yes, Asuka. I'll go get Mina. I think she's made a new design for you." She winked at Asuka. "I'm sure that Hatori will be very impressed by it."

Asuka blushed, and, waving her servant's comment away, climbed into the cellar.

Asuka, though seemingly normal on the outside, was fairly different from other daughters. Besides the fact that she was easily the most beautiful girl in most of Germany, and that she was one of the three in the entire world who piloted an Evangelion, Asuka had a forbidden best friend. Hatori was her secret peasant friend; she, Asuka Sohryu Langley, was the daughter of one of the richest men in Germany, but ever since she met Hatori by the orphanage, they had been the best of friends. In order to sneak out of the heavily guarded mansion, Asuka's closest servants lent her some of their own filth-covered, labour-worn dresses for her to wear. Of course, as Asuka grew, Mina, her seamstress, had to make new dresses in order to match Asuka's growing body.

Not long after Asuka ducked her head to get through the cellar door, her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit room, and spotted a sooty, darkened dress lying on the wooden table next to her. To any other rich daughter in Germany, the dress would be a disgusting piece of trash. To Asuka, though, it was her precious ticket to see Hatori.

"Thank you so much, Mina!" Asuka gushed, immediately stripping off her silky home gown and changing into the peasant outfit.

"It's our duty as your servants, Mistress Langley," Mina said smoothly. "We have to follow your orders..."

"No matter how strange and original they are," Shizuku added.

Asuka scowled at her servants, but then the three of them burst into giggles. "Well, I best be off, then," she said, playing with a strand of her luscious crimson hair.

"Wait!" Mina said, before Asuka opened the secret door under the table. "There's a ribbon that goes with this dress. You should tie up your hair with it, and don't forget to add a little soot in your hair, as well."

Asuka frowned mockingly. "Oh Mina! You're sounding like a housewife!"

"Isn't she one?" Shizuku remarked dryly.

Asuka smiled as her two servants started a pointless argument as usual. "Well, I'm going now." She put her hair up in a loose ponytail, and sprinkled it with a handful of dust. "You two better get back to your stations, or Father will suspect something."

"Yes, Mistress Langley," they chorused, saluting Asuka. "Or should we say, _Nakuru_?"

Asuka let out a final laugh, and closed the tiny door behind her.

Meanwhile, inside the mansion...

"Yes...er, no... No! I don't want...well...fine. But – ah...I said that I don't...alright, but there are no guarantees, you hear? Alright. I'll see to this s-son of yours, tomorrow. Yes, I'll speak to her. Good day."

CLICK

"Ah..." the man sighs, rubbing his temples. He looks pitifully at the phone. "Another suitor. This time, it sounds like a good respectable young man, and his background isn't bad at all. Not bad at all..." he trails off thoughtfully. "Except that with Asuka, you never know," he adds sadly.

"Well, Master Langley, perhaps this one will work," the butler said kindly.

"I don't suppose Asuka is awake by now?" Mr. Langley asks hopefully.

"I do believe that she is, sir," the butler answers, glancing at the clock on the wall. "She should be well past breakfast."

"I should go and share the good news," Mr. Langley says, getting up from his arm chair.

"Right," the butler agreed.

An olive-skinned brunette stood patiently under the arch of the doorway, her eyes scanning the thin crowd of the early morning. She sighs softly, shaking her head.

"I was thinking she'd be here by now..." she muttered, "It _is_, after all, a week before her birthday. I was sure it'd be somewhat special to her..."

Suddenly, a slender girl with soot in her hair ran up to the brunette, and, reaching the balcony, held on to the railing to catch her breath. "Sorry...Hikari," the figure said, still gasping for air. "...Servants were...arguing again...is he here yet?"

Hikari smiled at her friend. She didn't have to ask who '_he_' was. "Well, hello Asuka."

Asuka looked up. "I guess he's not here then, if you're still calling me that."

Hikari's smile grew. "Even if he was, I would be eager to tell him who Nakuru really is," she said slyly.

"You wouldn't dare!" Asuka said, though she let out a giggle. "Anyways, where is that baka? He's never late..."

"Well, he did say that his father took him somewhere far for the past few months. I wonder if he's still not home. Maybe he's busy tending the pigs on the border or something," Hikari suggested. The two of them burst into laughter. Hikari knew Asuka wasn't a real peasant, and talking about Hatori's life was always fun, because Asuka didn't live one like his at all. Or so they thought.

Meanwhile, somewhere over Germany...

Shinji looked cautiously at the man whose sleeping head was dropping closer and closer. The man looked like he hadn't shaved for a week, and his dark hair was held back in a short ponytail. 'Eug...' he thought to himself. 'Stay still. It wouldn't do me good if I told her that I spent the airplane trip with you sleeping on my shoulder...'

The man grunted, and Shinji took his chance to tip the man's head to the other side. The lady sitting on that side protested, but didn't want to touch the sleeping man, so Shinji finally had his space.

He couldn't enjoy it for long, though. Soon, the flight attendant's monotone voice announced that they were landing. As Shinji buckled himself up (he helped the man as well, since the lady didn't want to, and the man was still fast asleep), he thought of home, and the things he had planned for that day. 'I hope I'm not too late,' he thought to himself. 'Nakuru would kill me...'

The sudden bump and the sound of gigantic wheels awoke the man sitting beside Shinji, and he grunted when he noticed that his seat belt was on. "You –?" he asked Shinji, gesturing to the seat belt.

Shinji nodded.

"Thanks," the man said. "I was so tired from this morning's work...I can't believe my boss had me come so soon. It's hard, when you have so many part time jobs." The man winked at Shinji. "Don't ever grow up to be like me, kid. It's not a good life."

Shinji nodded again. 'Some people are just so talkative,' he thought to himself.

"Have you ever been in Germany?" the man asked, after the plane had landed.

"Yes," Shinji answered. "I live here."

"Really? You look Japanese to me. You speak German, then?"

Shinji nodded, changed his mind, then shook his head. "I'm Japanese, but...my father..."

"He sent you a guardian to live with you here?" the man guessed.

"Uh...yeah."

They didn't say anything after, and then they entered the airport. The man helped Shinji get his luggage, and then Shinji found his guardian. He waved goodbye to the man, who gave him a last smile. Shinji's guardian frowned, and asked him who the man was.

"He sat next to me on the airplane," Shinji answered vaguely. His guardian shook his head and steered Shinji into the shiny black Nerv vehicles that his dad, Gendo Ikari, had ordered to pick them up.

On the way home, Shinji thought about what the man had said. 'Part time jobs? I wonder what he does...'

But as soon as the car drove up to the mansion, all thoughts about the man were gone. Shinji opened the car door, and was quickly embraced by his two friends, Touji Suzahara and Kensuke Aida.

"We missed you man! How did you manage to live in Japan for so long?" Touji shouted into Shinji's shoulder. "Three months, man! Three! I was gonna pee my pants soon if I didn't hear, 'Nakuru, Nakuru' again!"

"That trip was worth every second, though," Kensuke added excitedly. "You're awesome! We watched every single battle on the top secret video tape that that hot babe gave us."

"Hot babe?" Shinji repeated. "You mean Misato-san?"

"Duh," Touji said, slapping Shinji hard on the back, making Shinji wince. "Who else would we mean, your peasant girl?"

A light bulb suddenly lit in Shinji's head. "Nakuru! Her birthday's in a week!"

"So?" Touji asked, frowning. "It shouldn't be hard to get something she likes. She's a peasant! Anything will do."

"Besides, you've got a whole week," Kensuke added.

"No, it's not that," Shinji said frantically. "I told her that I'd meet her today. If I don't go, she might suspect something!"

"I'm not that worried," Kensuke said, surprising both Touji and Shinji. "Nakuru's only a peasant. She won't connect the fact that you're late to the fact that Shinji Ikari, the greatest Eva pilot of all time, just returned to Germany from slaying Angels!"

Touji looked thoughtful. "He's right."

Shinji sighed. "Fine. But I still need you two to get me to the orphanage in my disguise."

"Fine, fine, fine. Have it your way," Touji said, sulking. He led Kensuke and Shinji to the backyard, and opened the door to the storage shed. "You two love birds ought to get together some day anyway. Why not do it now?"

Shinji flushed, picking up his peasant outfit. "You know that that's not true. We're just friends."

"Right," Touji and Kensuke chorused. They left the shed so that Shinji could change, and sneak off before the guards got to their stations.

"Nakuru?" a voice asked timidly.

Asuka grunted.

"Would you like a slice of bread?" Hikari said, offering a tray with a single plate on it. "It's a little bland compared to your usual breakfast at home, I know, but it's all the orphanage has to offer."

Asuka shoved the tray away, much to the surprise of Hikari. She knew Asuka was a fiery girl, and was bursting with money, but the redhead had never disrespected the poor in such a way. It was mostly because of Hatori, but Asuka wasn't a bad girl at heart either.

"Asuka?" she asked.

"Didn't I tell you not to call me that?" Asuka snapped. "That baka could come any time now!" In softer tones she added sadly, "I can't believe he'd forget about our meeting today."

"Now, now," Hikari said worriedly. "I'm sure Hatori hasn't forgotten. He cares too much about you to forget about your 18th birthday. Have you forgotten that he's your best friend? He's probably being scolded right now, for not feeding the chickens or something, and he can't escape just yet. Yes, that must be it. Why wouldn't that be it? Yes. That must be it. No need to worry, then. Hehe..."

Asuka snorted. "You're ranting again. You always rant when you're worried. The fact that you're worried is making me feeling so much better," she drawled. "Besides, he's a peasant. He doesn't have to sneak off like I do..."

Hikari sighed. "Yeah...I know." She left Asuka, and called over her shoulder that she'd be watching the children if Asuka needed her.

Asuka shifted uncomfortably. The straw mat she was sitting on wasn't as comfortable as the silk-covered pillow that she had at home. Briefly she wondered if Hatori really was acting, like she was, and was actually a rich boy...

"Nakuru! Nakuru!" called a familiar voice in the window. "Open up! It's me!"

"Hatori?" Asuka got up from the mat and opened the window. "Hatori!" She grinned when she saw his face. "Where have you been?"

"I'm sorry I'm late. I didn't forget your birthday, Nakuru," Shinji said. "I just got home late, that's all."

"Hikari and I were starting to get worried," Asuka said, still grinning.

Shinji grinned back at her. She hadn't changed one bit...except for her new dress. He commented on nice it looked.

"Thanks," Asuka said, beaming. "Mina made it for me."

"Mina?"

"My sea – " Asuka caught herself, when she remembered that peasants didn't have personal seamstresses.

"Your what?"

"My s-sister," Asuka quickly said.

"You never told me you had a sister," Shinji said, confused.

"I didn't?" Asuka looked quickly into the orphanage, wondering if Hikari could help her.

"No," Shinji said. Then he dropped his serious manner. "Hey! Nakuru!" he said, shaking an accusing finger. "I thought we said no secrets!"

Asuka put on a fake grin. "Well, I thought you already knew! I guess you are a baka! The worst kind of them all!"

"Baka? You're learning Japanese?" Shinji asked, curious.

Asuka laughed and nodded, and they went back to joking around and being best friends, without a care in the world. Being with Nakuru was the best thing in Shinji's life.

"Asuka!" a voice squawked, when her grimy arm appeared under the table in her cellar. "You didn't tell us that you were going to be gone for so long!"

Asuka looked up to see Shizuku. So it was Shizuku who sounded like an angry chicken...

"Spill, Asuka," Mina demanded. "Have you 'done it' with Hatori yet?"

Asuka flushed, and tried to look angry. "Mina!"

"Well, you were gone for a while, and you told us that you'd be back three hours ago," Shizuku explained, still laughing at the look on her mistress's face. "Besides...it's almost your 18th birthday!" she sang. "It would be an expected birthday present. Hatori wouldn't mind getting in bed, either, with a beauty like you!"

"Shizuku!" Asuka glared at her other servant. "Shut up, or else I'll come over there and make you shut up."

Shizuku and Mina became silent immediately, though they were both still smiling maliciously.

"You two aren't any better off than those perverted suitors that Father keeps on inviting. Wipe those smiles off your faces and get the bath ready. You don't want my father suspecting anything, do you?" Asuka said.

"Alright, Mistress," the two girls chorused.

When Asuka was dressed in a beautiful crimson gown, she headed for the tiny cellar door.

"Oh, Mistress Langley," Mina cooed, before Asuka closed the door. "I hope you thinking about telling your father soon, because the baby will be easily hid, but your stomach won't be."

"MINA! I. Am. Not. Pregnant!" Asuka yelled into her servant's face.

"I certainly hope not, because there's another suitor anxiously waiting to meet you tomorrow," said a deep voice from behind her.

Asuka turned around to see her father's kind face staring back at her. "Not another one?" she whined. "It has to be, like, the gazillionth one or something!"

Mr. Langley sighed. "I know how much you loathe these meetings, but I'm sure that if you just got to meet one of them, and gave them a chance – "

"Yeah right!" Asuka said sarcastically. "All they need is a chance – a chance to get into my pants, that is! They're all stupid perverts..."

Mr. Langley sighed again. "Anyways, I'm not sure why your servant was wondering if you were pregnant, but I'm sure that anyone who tried to get you that way wouldn't get very far before they learned a lesson from the Great Asuka Sohryu Langley."

"Right you are," Asuka said determinedly.

"Anyone except Hatori the peasant," came a whisper from the cellar.

"Anyone but who?" Mr. Langley asked. "Have you already chosen someone that I should know of?"

"Of course not," Asuka said hastily. "Who would want to chain themselves to a brainless git with incontrollable hormonal desires?"

Mr. Langley let out a booming laugh. "Chain yourself? I never asked you to chain yourself to anybody!"

"Marry, chain. Chain, marry. It's the same thing," Asuka said smoothly.

"And Asuka, I would never put my own dear daughter together with a brainless git, I'll have you know," he continued, seemingly ignoring Asuka's comment. "You are much too good for that."

"Well, about fifty of those have come by here, and you never took notice of them," Asuka pointed out.

Her father sighed yet again. "The hour is late; let us seek rest before your next suitor arrives. Mind you, he is a very punctual man. He won't be late!"

"When's the appointment?" Asuka asked reluctantly.

"Nine fifteen, sharp," he answered. Then he laughed; Asuka had an expression of utmost horror on her features.

"Nine fifteen!" Asuka wailed to her maid, Chi, in the morning, as she dressed. "I won't have any time to see Hatori! He just came back from a three month long trip yesterday!"

"But you already got to see him yesterday!" Chi softly reminded her mistress, passing Asuka's clothes to her. "For the whole day, too, if Mina was telling the truth."

"What? Mina was talking about that yesterday?" Asuka demanded.

"Only with those of us who know about Hatori," Chi reassured her.

Asuka breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good... You know that if my father finds out, he'll get the wrong ideas as soon as he hears the word 'peasant'..."

"Asuka!" came a shout from outside her room. Asuka and Chi recognized it as Mina's voice. "The victim's arrived!"

Asuka snickered. "Well, Chi, you've got the pot of hot sauce?"

Chi rolled her eyes at her mistress's demon-like smile. Asuka always had the strangest ways to scare suitors away. Asuka used to hate seeing suitors. But now, it had turned from a dreaded event to a fun hobby that Asuka enjoyed immensely.

"Yes, Asuka," Chi said, using Asuka's first name since they were alone. "When I left it, the sauce was at 175 degrees, and it's still rising."

"Prefect. I'll leave it all to you, then," Asuka said, leaving her room, and joining Mina down the stairs.

Shinji fidgeted uncomfortably, wondering who this girl would be. Her father seemed very kind...but also quite stressed and tired...

Shinji also didn't know what he would do if the meeting turned into a wedding. How would he be able to sneak off to Nakuru? He couldn't keep saying that he was busy; peasants didn't have that much work. Briefly, he remembered the conversation he had with his friends that morning.

flashback

_Shinji paced his room nervously. His father had called, and he was coming because of some important arrangement._

_'It will benefit you greatly,' the deep voice had said maliciously. _

_Shinji shuddered at the thought of his father's voice. He didn't know his own father that well; only that Gendo was the commander of Nerv, the secret organization that Shinji had fought for in the last few months. He had battled against threatening creatures called Angels inside a huge robot called Evangelion Unit 01, alongside his fellow pilot, Rei Ayanami. It was a lot to keep from Nakuru, but Shinji wasn't that talkative anyway, and Nakuru had a way with convincing people to do things that she wanted to do, so he had been busy having fun the day before. So busy that he hadn't mentioned a thing about where he had been for the last few months. _

_'Nakuru...' Shinji thought longingly. 'If only you weren't a peasant...' He looked at the card in his hand that indicated that he was a member of the Nerv branch in Japan. "Or if only I was a peasant..." he added out loud._

_"If you were peasant, what?" Kensuke asked, suddenly appearing behind Shinji._

_"He'd marry Nakuru, silly!" Touji said, smacking Kensuke on the head. "Ain't it obvious?"_

_"Would you actually do that, Shinji?" Kensuke asked, rubbing the spot where Touji had hit him._

_"Er..."_

_"Marry Nakuru, you know. Spend the rest of your life by her side."_

_Shinji's face brightened. "I guess I would. That would be great...but it could never happen..."_

_"Nope," Touji put in. Kensuke and Shinji frowned at his comment, but then he continued, "cuz guess what? Your dad's here, and he told me that you're going to be courting a pretty girl today!"_

_"WHAT?"_

end of flashback

Shinji looked around him anxiously. Gendo was standing coldly behind him, talking with the girl's father. The girl herself was said to be a beauty, and was the pilot of Unit-02 for Nerv's branch in Germany.

Shinji thought of her name when he saw a sudden movement from behind the stairs on the upper floor. But all he could catch was a gleam of red silk, before whatever it was disappeared again.

"Ah," said the girl's father, Mr. Langley, obviously seeing it as well. "That would be Asuka."

"A shy one, isn't she?" Gendo grunted in his low voice.

"Well...not exactly," Mr. Langley said, suddenly looking very worried. "You'll find out soon enough, I suppose."

The three of them watched the staircase eagerly, but they all had their own reasons for wanting to see Asuka.

They didn't have to wait for long.

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A/N: How's that for the first chapter? I think the cliffie's rather dumb, but I like dumb things. EEEK. Yeah, I know. Me is thinking that you must be looking like this now O.o. Oh well. Most people who get to know me soon get that permanent expression.

Lina ) or, if you want just me )

Oy! Something important before the second chapter can come up: Someone please tell me the names of Hikari's two sisters! I know the names are out there... And if no one can tell me, then I'll have to make some names up...that could become an international disaster...so plz...


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Ah! Hello...me here is thinking: if you are here, you must have enjoyed the first chapter (or hated it so much you came back for more reason to flame me). Either way, my pointless blabbing isn't the reason you're reading this crap...well maybe it is...but WHO CARES? Let's read the story now!

Disclaimer : I do not own these characters, settings, ideas, or anypoo.

Chapter 2

"Oh gee...stop laughing, will you? It's not funny, Aya!" Asuka snapped.

Aya stifled her giggles, but her attempt was in vain. Chi slapped her hard on the back.

"Listen to our Mistress, Aya," she snapped, in a tone much like Asuka's. "Mistress' finger is in immense pain!"

The mockingly added statement just caused another eruption of laughter from Asuka's two servants. They were bandaging Asuka's left hand, where a few drops of Chi's hot sauce had landed when Operation X Suitors had been in motion. Asuka hadn't even heard the guy's name before Mr. Langley's butler led out him and his father. It had been a mess afterwards; it was about 6 in the evening now, and the Langley resident servants were still cleaning leftover spills of hot sauce.

"Well, with that out of the way..." Asuka thoughtfully said, as Aya finished dressing the burn.

"What do you mean? The suitor or the bandaging?" Aya asked.

"Both, I guess, if you're so nosy," Asuka said. Then her expression darkened. "I can't understand why Father has to keep on inviting so many suitors over! Isn't it obvious that I'm not interested? What do I have to do? Act like a chicken with its head cut off?"

"Well, I'm sure I'd be interested in knowing how'd you manage to do that with that ego of yours..." Aya said, earning an angry glance from Asuka.

Chi smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure Mr. Langley knows that you're not interested yet, Mistress, but he's only trying to make sure you find someone before your 18th birthday."

Asuka snorted. "It's about my 18th birthday again, isn't it? Why does Father insist on believing that girls should be married at age 18?"

Aya and Chi didn't answer. In fact, when Asuka turned to see where they went, she realized that they had disappeared.

In their place stood a large man, looking very tired and stressed.

"Father!" Asuka exclaimed, rising to her feet. "I –"

Mr. Langley put up a hand to silence his daughter. He heaved a sigh, and sat himself down on one of Asuka's bedside armchairs. "I believe that you were voicing your opinions to your maids a moment ago, about my beliefs?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

Asuka opened her mouth to protest, and then decided against it. Instead, she thought of something else that had just come to her. "Father," she said determinedly, "you want me to marry on my 18th birthday, right?"

"Right."

"Then let's make a deal."

Mr. Langley, who was taking a pipe from his butler, suddenly looked very concerned. "W-what kind of d-deal?"

Asuka thought for a moment. "How about we make it so that if YOU win, you get what YOU want, and if I win, I get what I want."

Mr. Langley gulped. He loved his daughter very much, but had never been able to control her wild side. "Let's hear about this...this idea of yours."

Asuka suddenly had a wild gleam in her eye. "Well, I was thinking that since you've offered like, the largest amount of money and the biggest dowry Germany has ever seen, to unknown suitors who might not be very worthy of this wealth, never mind _me_, I was thinking that instead, you should host a ball tomorrow night. Take down all those advertisements you've put up, and instead, invite all the suitors who want to come, to come to the ball and try to court the fierce Asuka Sohryu Langley."

Mr. Langley looked at Asuka with doubtful eyes. "Uh...I see. This idea...seems...seems a bit strange, yet logical at the same time. Go on."

Asuka looked up, as if she was deep in thought. "The ball should start at around eight. No, seven would be better. Yes, six hours should be ample time."

"Ample time for what?"

"Ample time for me to drive away all the suitors the way I've been doing it all this time," Asuka said, matter-of-factly. "You see, in this deal, I get to do whatever I want in order to get those perverts to leave. You, therefore, can do whatever you want to get them to stay."

The pipe Asuka's father had been smoking fell the ground with a clatter. The butler immediately retrieved it before it started a fire. Mr. Langley ignored him, and stared at his redheaded daughter.

Asuka continued, as if she had not seen the exchange of events. "By midnight, if there are any remaining suitors, I will choose one to wed," Asuka said. She hastily added, "If there are none, however, then I will have won the deal, and be free to choose my own husband whenever I like."

"..."

"Well?" Asuka asked her father, as if noticing him for the first time. "How 'bout you go and send the invitations now?"

"Hmmm..." Asuka's father said, stroking his short beard. It was his turn to be deep in thought. "I suppose it's a deal then." He stuck out his hand.

Father and daughter shook on the deal, and then Mr. Langley strode out of Asuka's room, feeling lighter than he had been when he had entered. 'I finally have an organized method of solving this matchmaking problem!' he thought.

As for Asuka, who was still in her room...

"Dammit! I should have chosen the night before my 18th birthday!" Asuka shouted, slamming her fist into the desk. "We're never going to have enough ammunition by tomorrow evening!" Asuka put her face in her hands.

"The only available weapon at the time is Chi's hot sauce," said Aya, "and even that's only the leftovers from this morning's suitor."

"Who WAS that suitor, from this morning?" Chi wondered out loud. "The one who was victim to my hot sauce?"

"I don't give a damn," grumbled Asuka, her voice slightly muffled by her hands.

"Ikari Shinji," said Aya, almost dreamily. "He's the skilled and talented pilot of Evangelion Unit 01..."

"The Evangelion in Japan that was just activated three months ago?" Chi asked.

"Yeah..." Aya's eyes looked glazed.

"Hmmpf! That dummkopf, stealing all my fame!" Asuka muttered, getting up. "I don't care that he almost got burnt, he –"

"Uh, he DID get burnt by the hot sauce, Mistress," Chi put in. "A fair amount of hot sauce splashed onto his left hand."

"All the better," Asuka growled maliciously, while Aya whimpered.

"His left hand?" Aya was frantic. "How is he going to battle angels when he gets back to Japan?"

"Badly, I hope," Asuka snarled. "Anyways, if you like him THAT much, Aya, go ahead and take him."

"Really?" Aya said, hopefully. "I can have him? Hmmm...do you reckon that he'll take a liking to a servant girl of Asuka Sohryu Langley?"

Chi and Aya burst into another fit of giggles.

"MEIN GOTT!" Asuka shouted at both of them. "You have got to be kidding! This is no time for stupid girly daydreams! We've got an important war coming up tomorrow, with no plan whatsoever! Hurry up and get your asses moving!"

Ring...ring...ring...

"Um...sir?" The butler's deep voice penetrated the silence of Mr. Langley's office. "Should you answer the...?"

"Oh! Yes!" Mr. Langley suddenly got up, startled. He had been musing about the thousands and thousands of invitations he had just sent out. Quickly trying to compose himself, Asuka's father picked up the shiny black phone. "Hello?"

A deep, rumbling voice met Mr. Langley's ears.

"Oh..." Asuka's father tapped his desk nervously, realizing it was Gendo. He hadn't really liked the man, but respected him since he was the commander of Nerv, the secret organization that Asuka worked for. Of course, after that morning, he had more reason to respect and fear him. "Yes, I'm terribly sorry for what happened to your son today...I have t-to admit that I wasn't surprised by my d-daughter's wild actions...yes...I hope the burn was treated well? I know that your son, he – you say it means little?"

Mr. Langley frowned. If Asuka got a big burn on her slender hand, he wouldn't be as flexible as the man on the other end seemed to be. Briefly, he wondered whether Gendo had Shinji's burn treated at all. He did not, however, voice this opinion, because Gendo suddenly switched to the topic of Shinji not getting the chance to meet the pilot of Evangelion Unit 02.

"Yes, I'm dreadfully sorry...I – " Again, a deep frown crossed Mr. Langley's face. Gendo sounded awfully angry that Asuka hadn't given Shinji a chance. "Forgive me, Mr. Ikari," Asuka's father said carefully, "but I don't understand why you seem so desperate to get our children married. I've never had so much trouble with Asuka's earlier rejections...No! No, of course not...Asuka isn't playing around with such a serious matter, and neither am I. I'm just quite anxious to get her settled, but her own intentions are repelling mine."

Suddenly, Gendo made a comment that made Mr. Langley nearly want to slam the phone back in its place. "I believe you're mistaken, Ikari Gendo, I –" That did it. Gendo had struck home.

The butler was startled as he heard a

SLAM!

and the tingle of something breaking to many pieces, coming from inside Mr. Langley's office.

"How dare he? HOW DARE HE??? I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT MAN IS THE COMMANDER OF MY DAUGHTER'S ORGANIZATION! THAT SON OF A BITCH!"

At the other end, Gendo smiled wickedly as he heard the tone on the phone. 'You can't hide from me, Second Child. I will get what I want, no matter how you try to hide.'

"He WHAT?" Shinji couldn't believe his ears. "Touji, this is serious!"

"I'm BEING serious, Shinji, o my dear, dear master!" Touji said frantically.

"You certainly don't sound like it," Kensuke remarked, frowning.

Touji ignored him, and threw Shinji's peasant costume into his arms. "Go! Find Nakuru! You've got to tell her, you know. Decide whether you're running away with her, or gonna abandon her."

Shinji was speechless.

Touji kept pushing Shinji out the back door. "Go! Hurry! Before your father comes and tells you himself! FIND NAKURU!"

"I'm not sur –"

"Go!" With one final push, Shinji was outside, and Touji slammed the door closed.

Shinji knew the door was old, and knew where there were cracks in the rotting wood. He reluctantly slipped on his costume, and called over his shoulder. "Touji, if this is one of your stupid tricks, I will never forgive you."

"You again?" Hikari said, looking up from the groups of young children, crowding around a filthy redhead.

The redhead looked up, revealing a bright smile. Then she asked the children to go play, which they did, and her smile dropped. "I need your help," she said hastily.

"What for, Asuka?" Hikari asked, not surprised. A few days ago, a servant named Chi had come by for hot sauce mix, and bought at least a pound or two of the stuff. Before that, someone named Shizuku had come for a few crates of wood chips, and before that, there was a Mina who grabbed three handfuls of thin and long knitting needles, and before that...

Asuka passed her friend a list, which seemed to expand as Hikari unfolded the many folds. It was all written in minuscule writing, and each request seemed impossible:

450 jars of honey

28 crates of chicken feathers

60 pounds of chicken feed

80, 000, 000 packages of powdered milk

and so on, to the bottom of the list. Hikari wrinkled her eyebrows at Asuka. "This list is a joke," she stated firmly. "We don't have 60 pounds of chicken feed here at the orphanage, never mind spare one. And the amount of powdered milk you want is outrageous!"

"Outrageous? OUTRAGEOUS? The number of suitors that my father has invited is outrageous!" Asuka protested under her breath.

Hikari went on. "I can understand the strange methods that you get your servants to drive the suitors away, and it's affordable. But this," – she gestured at the list – "this is impossible. No one in this village will have that many supplies. You're forgetting that we're all PEASANTS!"

"But I'm not a peasant," Asuka insisted. "I just need to find out who has these things, and my father will get them for me."

"You're forgetting that your father is the other side of the deal you two made," Hikari stated.

"How did you know about the deal?"

"Mina stopped by and told me last night. Warned me to stock up ahead of time," Hikari said simply.

Asuka sighed. "And yet you still don't have what I need. Maybe I should change my plan of attack. Do you reckon I could get Hatori to help?"

"Secretly, yes," Hikari said, thinking. "But if he asks you why you need all these things...he might..."

"He might what?" Asuka asked. Suddenly, she realized that someone else had asked it at the same time. Hikari and Asuka looked over the window.

"HATORI!" Asuka flung her arms around him. "Hatori, I'm so glad to see you!"

Shinji was panting, and out of breath, from running. After silently cursing Touji in case he was lying, he realized that Touji would never lie about something like this, and realized that he had to hurry. He had broken into a run, hoping that Nakuru was here. He was so happy that she was here, that he completely ignored the fact that she seemed so glad to see him for no apparent reason. He also noticed that she had a bandage on her left hand, but ignored that too.

"I'm glad to see you, too," he said breathlessly, still panting for air. "Listen; there's something really important I need to tell you, I – " He looked up at Hikari, and the kids watching them from inside the orphanage. "Maybe we should sneak over to that vineyard over there," he said to Asuka.

"Sure," Asuka replied, wondering what her childhood friend had to tell her this time. They crouched underneath the fence of the vineyard, so that the vines hung in front of them, hiding them from view. The only way anyone would see them was if the owner of the vineyard came into his yard and looked under the fence. Shinji's bandaged left hand brushed up against Asuka's bare thigh; but Asuka did not call him a pervert nor wonder why it was bandaged; she was too eager to see why he had come.

"I'm in an emergency," Shinji said, his words flowing out quickly like a water fountain. "My father has arranged for me to court some girl, and if it works, which my father is certain, I'll be staying at the girl's place from then on! I don't think I'll ever be able to speak to you again, Nakuru." His eyes looked like they were on the verge of tears. Asuka noticed this.

"Don't be a sissy, dummkopf!" Asuka snapped, suddenly realizing that her eyes were brimming as well. "You'll still be able to see me from time to time, won't you? What's the name of this girl?"

"A – " Before the answer came out, Shinji was suddenly pulled upwards into the vineyard.

"Yo! Hatori! Old man wanted you back now," said a familiar voice. "Said he'd send men out to get ya if we didn't bring you home."

Shinji and Asuka looked up to see Touji and Kensuke standing in the yard.

Asuka scowled at them. "Ha...It's Perverted Ass and Nerd Brain, huh?" she sneered. She stared hard at Touji. "We still have an arm wrestling score to settle."

Touji looked tempted, but then a brief glance from Shinji reminded him of the situation. "Now's not the time," he said, somewhat dejectedly.

"We thought you'd be here, Sh – I mean, Hatori," Kensuke added, earning a curious glance from everyone. "Eh he, he..."

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Shinji said to Asuka, getting up from the underground hole they had been sitting in. He turned to go, and then stopped, and turned back.

"Too scared to leave me?" Asuka taunted.

Shinji sighed, and took out a jade-beaded bracelet from the inner folds of his shirt. He slipped it onto Asuka's wrist. "Here, have this," he said calmly. "We made it together when we were little, and then had a fight about who got to keep it, remember?" He smiled, and Asuka smiled back through her tears.

"The only reason you got it in the end was because Touji won it for you in an arm wrestle contest against me," Asuka recalled. Hastily, she added, "but that was the first and last time Touji ever won in an arm wrestling contest."

"I'll get you one day, Nakuru!" Touji called, grabbing Shinji by the collar. "Let's go," he urged. "It'll be more painful if you stay for too long."

Shinji nodded, and waved goodbye to Asuka, who looked back at his retreating figure with longing eyes. He was going...going...gone. A few moments pass...

"HELLO? ANYONE HOME?"

Asuka snapped out of it and jumped back nearly a mile. "Hikari! What was THAT for?"

Hikari winked. "You were going to forget about your 'appointment' with the suitors tonight if I didn't wake you up!"

Remembering the ball that evening, Asuka sighed, and fingered the beaded bracelet on her wrist. "Isn't it ironic?" she asked no one in particular. "I worked so hard to make this ball happen so that I had a chance to be able to keep visiting Hatori, but he just comes one day and says that he's engaged, without even putting up a fight!"

"That's just how Hatori is," Hikari said softly. "He's always been different from you, you know. You're loud and eccentric, and he's quiet and soft-spoken. Hatori's a very calm and shy boy. Doesn't fight strongly for his own beliefs as much as you do."

"It's because he's like that, that no one really knows what his beliefs ARE," Asuka said. "If only he voiced his opinions more, then maybe his father wouldn't have forced him to court some girl. I mean, peasants HAVE to be more flexible than us rich people! And yet, I'm the one who's succeeding in my rebellion."

Hikari laughed. "I think you should go and start preparing for your ball. You don't have much time."

"Young Master Ikari, your father wants you in his office right away," said the butler at the door.

"Dressed like this?" Shinji asked, shocked. He dreaded meetings with his father. At first, when he saw his father again in Japan, he had been eager to meet him and find out what kind of man he was. But now...

"Master Ikari does not care for appearances," the butler said simply.

'Oh, but he will sure criticized me for it,' Shinji thought, as he followed the butler to his doom.

At last, after many quiet mutterings, Shinji found himself facing his father.

"Finally," Gendo said in his deep voice. His chair was facing the windows, so Shinji could not see his face. "You may go now," he said off-handed to the butler, who bowed and closed the door.

'Aw...why couldn't he stay? It doesn't seem a very good idea, leaving me alone with a man like him...' Shinji thought nervously.

"Well, Third Child," Gendo said softly, after an awkward pause. "I believe that servant of yours has given you most of the information?"

Shinji knew he meant Touji. "H-hai."

Gendo's tone immediately changed. "What did you say?"

"I meant 'yes'," Shinji immediately put in.

"The Second Child is native to Germany, were you aware of that?" Gendo's voice was urgent.

"Ha – yes."

"Good." The black chair turned to face Shinji, and Shinji saw the inevitable happen: Gendo's eyes immediately travelled to Shinji's clothes. "What, may I ask, are you planning on doing in those...rags?" he asked, a slight tone of icy amusement in his voice.

"I-I...I was just...playing..." Shinji mentally hit himself on the head. He could practically hear a little Nakuru in his head saying, 'Is THAT the best you can do, Hatori?'

"I expect better next time," Gendo said.

Shinji was shocked; did his father just let him off? Then he gulped; perhaps Gendo had something more important to say. As if on cue, Gendo cleared his throat.

"I have heard from my 'sources' that Mr. Langley, father of the Second Child, is holding a ball this evening, at seven," he stated. Shinji knew what was coming next. "You are to attend this ball, to court the Second Child. Remember what I have just said about my expectations of your...outfits."

Shinji let out a sigh so barely audible that it was almost only existent in his mind. Nakuru had once said that Hatori was so chicken that he would never have the wits to court, nonetheless, attract a girl. He now hoped that she was right. Shinji ignored his father's comment on his peasant outfit – he was smart enough to leave the outfit only for sneaking off to Nakuru.

"However," Gendo continued, waking Shinji from his thoughts, "one of my spies has also informed me that this ball has been sabotaged. As I am such a willing father, I will make arrangements to make sure you are the last suitor standing. This is all I wanted to tell you. Dismissed."

Shinji stood up and left, but barely. What on earth did his father mean by 'last suitor standing'?

He'd find out tonight.

"SCHIESSE!" There were thunderous boom's and bang's coming from the cellar, as Asuka tried to move the shipments of 'ammunition' to good attack points in her mansion.

"Mistress?" Chi asked, from behind a crate of goat dung. "Where should these go?"

Asuka read the label, and laughed evilly. "The kitchen."

Chi looked terribly worried, but did as she was told. After all, being Asuka's servant for so long had convinced her that she didn't need to worry about such things – she knew Asuka wouldn't have any sympathy for a single one of the suitors.

"THEY'RE HERE!" A shrill call came from Asuka's room. Shizuku came into view, panting as she ran to her mistress. "The first of the suitors – Mr. Langley's ushering them into the ball room right now!"

Asuka's smile grew into an evil grin. "Then start the first stage of our operation: The Nails on Chalkboard symphony!"

Shizuku put on a pair of extra-thick earmuffs, and gave Asuka a thumbs-up. "All systems go!" she said, leaving.

"So far, everything's going smoothly," Asuka stated maliciously.

DING DONG!

The butler hurried to the door, and opened it to reveal – Gendo Ikari. The butler gasped. "Uh...Mr. Ikari...Master wasn't expecting you."

"I know," Gendo said, his voice low and ominous. Shinji, who was standing beside him, shuddered.

"I'll go g-get him to speak with you, then," the butler said, hurrying off. Apparently, his master's fear of Gendo had passed down to his servants.

Not long after the butler disappeared, Shinji heard fowl music – was it music? – coming from deep inside the mansion. Gendo smirked.

"Ah, so Asuka has started driving them away already...what a clever litter girl, however, she cannot outsmart the Nerv commander himself."

Shinji wondered what his father's musings could possibly mean, but just as he became uncomfortable, the large figure of Mr. Langley appeared, looking a bit shaken.

"Mr. I-Ikari!" he stuttered, obviously not appreciating Gendo's presence. "I'd like to wonder why you would be here?"

Gendo answered calmly. "My son Shinji is here because of the beautiful Asuka Sohryu Langley...I hope that's not a crime?"

Mr. Langley looked just about as uncomfortable as Shinji felt. "I do not recall inviting you to this ball, Gendo."

"I didn't waste my valuable time to escort my son to the BALL, Mr. Langley," Gendo said smoothly. "I came so that you would find a way for him to be your ticket to win the deal that I believe you made with your daughter?"

Mr. Langley, if possible, looked even more terror-struck. However, he didn't ask the question that Shinji was thinking he would. Instead of asking how Gendo found out, he recomposed himself. "I'm insulted if you think that you can persuade me to have my daughter wed your son after all that has happened," Asuka's father said.

Gendo's face twisted into an ugly smile. He grabbed Mr. Langley's collar, and spoke softly. "You WILL find a way for my son to win against your daughter. It's a choice you will make, for life or death. If you cooperate with me, I have the power to appoint you to a high position in Asuka's organization, where you can always monitor her safety and well-being. If you choose otherwise, you won't have the breath to argue in the matter for long. You know I have eyes everywhere you look, Langley." With that, Gendo let go, and left with all his escorts and bodyguards. As for Shinji...Gendo had left him standing nervously in front of Asuka's father.

After regaining his composition, Mr. Langley heaved a sigh. "Well then, Shinji. I guess it's just you and me."

Shinji gulped.

"Follow me."

Shinji obeyed silently, and they walked past millions of closed doors, and passages that led to a multitude of rooms and more hallways. Finally, they reached a stairwell that led down to a dark and damp tunnel. Mr. Langley motioned for Shinji to keep following.

At last, they reached a wooden door at the end of tunnel. A lone oil lamp illuminated the dark space. Mr. Langley took out a rusted key from his pocket, and stuck it into the keyhole. He turned the doorknob, and it opened without a sound, much to the shock of Shinji. He didn't have much time to wonder about it, because inside was a room far from what Shinji had imagined could possibly be down in such a desolate place.

Instead of a damp, musty, cave like what Shinji had imagined, he found a furnished room that had a thick, luxurious carpet and a fireplace. The walls were lined with portraits and imported tapestries, and at one end of the room were three bookshelves, filled with what Shinji made out to be classics. At the other side of the room was a clear glass coffee table, with a basket of fruit and another basket filled with assorted treats. The table was surrounded by puffy velvet couches lined with what looked like cloth of gold. They faced a large screen that seemed to be a TV. Shinji was astounded. The only thing this room was missing was a window!

Shinji turned to face Mr. Langley. "Mr. Langley, I – "

Asuka's father put a finger to his lips. "I know that you might get a bit bored, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to lock you in until midnight. There's a clock on the mantelpiece, so you can keep track of time – "

"You're going to lock me in here?" Shinji interrupted.

"It's going to be mayhem up in the mansion, I know it, I saw one of Asuka's servants carrying a crate of what looked like dung into the kitchen just now," Mr. Langley said, acknowledging the fact that Shinji suddenly turned a shade of dark green. "It's best if no one knows that you're here. This room is top secret – I'm the only one who knows its existence. If you need anything, ring the bell that's beside the TV. It'll cause my pager to vibrate, and I'll know it's you. At midnight, the door will automatically open and close once you come out. Just follow the tunnel back up to the mansion, so that the deal can be completed. Also, the bathroom is just behind that middle bookshelf. Take out the red book that's titled, 'The Door in the Wall', and you'll find a red button. If you press it, the bookshelf will slide to the side, and you'll find the entrance to the bathroom. Since you have so much time on your hands, I think it would be a good idea to take a long bath," Mr. Langley said, eyeing some left over soot in Shinji's hair.

"Thank you, Mr. Langley," Shinji said, appreciating how kind Mr. Langley was. "I will."

Mr. Langley chuckled softly, and left, muttering to himself. "What a kind boy he is, compared to his father..."

"ASUUUUKA!" Mina's voice rang. "Can I start Phase 15 now?"

Asuka gave her servant the thumbs up. "All systems go!" As Mina left, Asuka turned to Teri, a servant who was marking something on a clipboard. "How many left?" Asuka asked her.

"Well, if you count the twelve perverts who Chi just persuaded to go to hell...I'd say that we have exactly ninety two pinheads left to evacuate," Teri answered happily.

"So much fun!" Asuka said dreamily. "Anyways, how did Phase 18 go? I heard that Chi went ahead with it before I gave the order."

"Oh, you mean the one where Chi served the goat poo?" Teri asked, immensely amused.

Asuka laughed maniacally. "Y-yes."

"Well, two of the victims are still vomiting, and the other sixteen have left," Teri said, a big smile plastered onto her face. "In case you wanted to know, Chi's planning to use the vomit for the next phase."

"Good, good, good," Asuka said. "I'm going to personally carry out Phase 16 now...I mean, so far, my helpful servants have been doing most of the work...I thank you all, but now the master of mistresses is going to work!"

Teri watched as Asuka slid down the banister, and disappeared into the crowd of men, attracting all of their attention. 'What a life...' Teri thought to herself. 'I'd never thought that being a servant could be such a great form of entertainment.'

Meanwhile, in the orphanage...

Hikari was making dinner for the children, when she suddenly remembered Mina telling her that Shinji Ikari, the most recent suitor, had been the victim of her hot sauce.

"Chi made it SO hot, and a big bit of it landed right on his left hand!" Mina had gushed excitedly. "Aya was so sad, she kept whining, cuz you know, Ikari is the pilot of Evangelion Unit 01, the invincible Eva of Japan."

Left hand?! An image suddenly came to Hikari's mind: Asuka embracing Hatori at the window, and Hatori had hugged her back...with a bandaged left hand! Hikari suddenly dropped the carrot she had been slicing. It landed with a soft thud on the cutting board.

"What is it, Hikari?" the second Horaki sister asked. "What's wrong? Did you cut yourself?"

Hikari weakly shook her head, and her sister went back to her kitchen duty. Hikari looked at the carrot on her cutting board. There were lines and dents in it everywhere.

'Is it possible?' Hikari thought to herself. 'Could Asuka's joke be more than what it was? Could Hatori really be pretending, just like Asuka is? It's not impossible...' Suddenly, Hikari had another flashback.

_'Aww, Hatori, do you REALLY have to go?' Asuka whined._

_'Yeah, I do. I'm sorry.'_

_'Three months is a long time for me to wait.'_

_'It's very important, and I'll finally get to meet my father...'_

Hikari shook her head. It worked only too well! The invincible Shinji had appeared in the news just a while after Hatori left. Then Asuka had told her that Shinji Ikari had come to court her...right after Hatori came back!

"Hey sis, I don't think those carrots are going to slice themselves anytime soon."

Hikari looked at her sister. "Do you happen to have any pictures of Ikari Shinji, or Shinji Ikari, whatever you call him?"

Hikari's sister narrowed her eyes. "N-no, older sister has one...but she doesn't like it when people go through her stuff, you know,"

Hikari let out a squeal, and then ran out of the kitchen.

"Hey! The children are getting hungry! Hikari!"

Hikari heard her sister's cries, but ignored them. She looked frantically in her small room that she shared with her two sisters. Finally, when her sister came in, she found what she was looking for.

"What's that?" the older sister asked.

"It's a photo album that Asuka gave me weeks ago," Hikari answered. "Tell me sis, where does older sister keep the picure?"

"She's not going to like you very much after this."

Hikari sighed. "I know...but it's important. It's for my friend..."

"You mean the rich redhead who gives us money?" Her face brightened right away, and Hikari's sister reached into a desk to reveal a slip of paper. "Here it is. Don't tell older sister that I gave it to you, though."

Hikari's sister happily left the room, and Hikari compared a recent picture of Hatori to the picture of Shinji in his plug suit. She let out a scream.

They were exactly the same.

"Mistress, we're down to twenty-two to go!" Teri squealed happily.

"That was some trick you pulled there, Mistress," Mina gushed, leading a foreign suitor out the door. "About thirty suitors fled in one blink of an eye."

Asuka smiled innocently. "Well, they don't call me the Great Asuka Sohryu Langley for nothing! Now, where are Shizuku and Aya? I haven't seen them ever since the operation started! Are they doing well?"

"We're fine as fine is fine!" Aya said, strolling casually with one arm on Shizuku's shoulder. "We've been taking care of another suitor who apparently got lost. Said he didn't want to own a house where he couldn't find the bathroom, so he stupidly left."

"Good," said Asuka. "Chi's down in the ballroom 'enchanting' the guests, why don't you two join her? I'll be down in a moment, after I read this list to see who the people left are."

"Okey dokey!" Aya said, leading her and Shizuku down to the ballroom.

"Well now, there's John Norrington from England," started Teri, "and then Tamahome Wattanabe from Japan, and some guy from South America – I can't pronounce his name – and some other people, ah, I see a name that looks German...yeah, another one...another Japanese one, named Yuki Mitsuharu, wait, here's a Chinese one...looks like Bartman the butler didn't write it himself; the dude wrote his name in Kanji characters!"

"Okay...this isn't very interesting at all..." Asuka grabbed the clipboard. She didn't look at the names that weren't crossed off, though. No, something else caught her eye. "Shinji Ikari?" she asked.

Teri looked slightly startled. "Uh yeah...a moment ago, when I saw his name on the bottom of the list, Chi told me that she didn't see him anywhere, I mean, she for one would remember his face, right? SHE was the one who poured hot sauce on him from the balcony yesterday. But she told me that she didn't see him anywhere for the whole time, so I told everyone to scan the mansion for him. I crossed him off after, because no one could find him. He probably left since he didn't want a bandage on his right hand as well."

Asuka shrugged. "Probably."

Mina suddenly ran over to them. "Asuka! We have an emergency! There are ten suitors left and only five minutes left till midnight!"

Asuka frowned. "What? That's no emergency! You can scare 'em off in like, three seconds!"

Mina gasped for air. "You don't understand! Mistress Langley, they've, they've figured out that you're just trying to drive them all away. They won't leave no matter what we throw at them!"

Asuka narrowed her eyes. "Let me deal with them then. I know exactly how to handle this."

Mr. Langley smiled at the ten suitors still chatting in the banquet hall. In four more minutes, the clock would strike midnight. As long as Asuka didn't notice them for a few more minutes...

But no such luck. Asuka came flying across the banquet hall, her crimson robes flaring out behind her.

"Hey you!" she pointed an accusing finger at one of the ten suitors. "Get out of my house, right now!"

The suitor stayed calm. "Oh? Aren't you the Mistress of this mansion? You must be the daughter of the man who hosted this...ball, if you can call it that, corrupted as it is."

Asuka's anger reached the limit. "How dare you! You're only here because you want to court me, right? Well, why don't your fucking asses just go home? Now you know what I'm like, so you can just go and have some sleep. You don't need a cheating wife like me, do you?"

"Nice try," said another guy sitting at the table, "but we've seen enough tonight to know that this is all some sort of weird trick. You're seeing which suitor will last the longest, and the last ones to stay will be eligible to be your groom on your wedding day."

"H-how did you?" Asuka barely stuttered out. She glanced at the clock. Two minutes left. "Fine then! My last resource," Asuka muttered. She dug into her robe and revealed ten bags full of what sounded like money to the suitors. "Here," she said giving one bag each to the ten suitors.

They all looked into their bags, to check the money was real, and then they bid Asuka a good night. Mr. Langley was astounded, and came out of his observation spot.

"You can't bribe them! That's completely cheating!" Mr. Langley shouted. Suddenly, the front door closed, and Mina shouted from the front foyer.

"They've gone, now!"

As if on cue, the gong inside the grandfather clock upstairs rang throughout the mansion, signifying that it was now midnight.

"Father, I have driven out every single suitor that arrived this evening," Asuka announced loudly and clearly. "And bribing the last few wasn't cheating, because in the rules, I had said that I could do anything I wanted to."

"Well then, I have no choice but let you get away with that," Mr. Langley said thoughtfully.

"Yay!" Asuka exclaimed extremely happy. "Then for my first wish, I would like a nice beach bungalow on the coast of Hawaii, and have a few of my closest servants to come with me...and I'd also like it if you stopped teasing me about cute guys..."

"Excuse me, but I don't think I've finished, quite yet," Mr. Langley said, interrupting Asuka. "I meant to say that I have no choice but to let you get away with it, since I was allowed to do what I wanted to as well, remember?"

A dark expression suddenly came over Asuka's features. "W-what do you mean by, 'what I wanted'?"

"I meant, that I hid one candidate in my safe keeping, which I had every right to do," Mr. Langley said evenly.

Asuka's eyes widened. 'No...no...it can't be...'

"You can come out now," Mr. Langley said, facing a shadow that was behind him.

A short, skinny figure cautiously wandered out of the protection of the darkness, and Aya screamed when she saw him.

It was Shinji.

-------------------

LOL! There it is, folks...another stupid cliffhanger. I'm rather enjoying them now...MWA HAHAHAHAHAZ.

Lina )

Oy! In case you're wondering...M is my beta reader and 'other half'. If you'd had the curiosity to look at Sunlit Wings' profile, you'll see that we are two authors who share one account, and once in a while we write one fic together. Otherwise, we Beta-read each other's stories. Therefore, the email address above isn't completely my own. If you're very anxious to speak to me only, send your emails to .

I'll take this opportunity to advertise one of M's Harry Potter fics: dun dun DUN! drumroll TRAVELING SOLDIER!!!! It's a D/G romance that's a bit dark, but really good! Go take a lookey sometime! It'll make you cry your eyeballs out! . 


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